OpenAI’s Fidji Simo takes medical leave, announces leadership changes
Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Studio 1.0 interview on Thursday, March 3, 2022 in San Francisco, California, United States.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
OpenAI’s CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, announced several leadership changes on Friday and revealed that he was taking a serious medical leave due to his worsening neuroimmune condition.
OpenAI hired Simo in May, and in a memo to staff on Friday, he said his condition relapsed a few weeks before he took over. He said the past month had been “particularly challenging health-wise” and he decided he needed to take a few weeks off to recover.
“During my time here, I have postponed medical tests and new treatments in order to focus entirely on my work and not miss a single day of work,” Simo wrote in the note seen by CNBC. “Two weeks ago I took time off for the first time for some medical tests and it is now clear that I have gone a little too far and I really need to try new interventions to stabilize my health.”
He said OpenAI President Greg Brockman will oversee the product in Simo’s absence. Simo also announced that OpenAI’s chief operating officer Brad Lightcap will move to a new role focused on “special projects.” He will report directly to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“We have a strong leadership team focused on our top priorities: advancing pioneering research, growing our global user base of nearly 1 billion users, and powering enterprise use cases,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. “We are well positioned to continue operating with continuity and momentum.”
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